Staff Debate: Notre Dame's Move to ACC

Notre Dame's move to the ACC spurred comments from readers and pundits that it's now a "superconference" or "lacrosse's SEC." But the move has many more implications than just making one amazing lacrosse conferecne.

The staff at Inside Lacrosse has decided to tackle Notre Dame's move in its weekly staff debate. The topic: What is the most intriguing aspect of Notre Dame's move?

Check out the responses:

Zach Babo

The most intriguing aspect of this to me is how quickly the ACC went from essential four independents (since it wasn’t an AQ conference), to now almost a cartel. As it is ACC teams routinely had the best strengths of schedule, made stronger by the ACC Tournament, which has its bragging rights but otherwise is just a tool to add potentially two more top 10 opponents to an already strong schedule. Now that Notre Dame and Syracuse join the fray, those schedules will automatically be in the Top 5 annually.

But what I mean by the cartel comment is that already it is difficult for the mid-tier schools to bolster strength of schedule because it is so hard to schedule the top teams since they gain little by picking up a mid-tier opponent. So Notre Dame and Syracuse being in the Big East meant Providence, St. John’s, Villanova, etc. all got a great SOS game that they might not otherwise get. By leaving the conference, The Irish and Orange don’t necessarily have to keep that contest on the schedule, and can instead play their ACC schools (whom they may already play as nonconference opponents now), and then procure whomever else helps flesh out the schedule. As John Desko was saying in our reactions piece yesterday, the intricacies of the ACC schedule as well, in which you need to play five conference opponents in six weeks, plus also keep the last weekend or two of April open for the ACC tournament, severely limits the opportunities to get nonconference teams on the schedule.

What I am driving at is that we talk about how it helps the game that Virginia and UNC and the like all will come to South Bend now and showcase top lacrosse in the midwest, but what about all of those mid-tier schools that will not get a nice boost by bringing in a big name ACC school because they can’t make the dates work anymore. Are we heading towards a real have’s and have-not’s bifurcation in lacrosse, where the Top 15 teams schedule amongst each other and dominate at-large bids, and everyone else is left to fight it out for their respective AQ’s? Will mid-tier programs struggle to recruit good athletes because they no longer offer a few games against big name schools a year? Or will the mid-tiers get a bump because conferences like the Big East are now very much wide open? I’m not sure, but I guess part of me is always a little wary when so much power gets congregated in one place.

Casey Vock

What I find most intriguing about this move is what it might do for Notre Dame's recruiting efforts. Notre Dame has not necessarily been grabbing large numbers of players who have fallen in the ranking we put together at IL, picking up a lot of under-the-radar type guys, but yet the team has been among the best in the nation in recent seasons. With Notre Dame becoming a part of what is without question the most potently horrifying conference in the sport, it only gives the Irish recruiters more fuel to attract increasingly talented players. That's a scary thought for Notre Dame's competitors. It's felt for the last few years like many of the best recruits from the high school world are destined for schools south of the Mason-Dixon Line before they even entered their junior seasons. Now, with two high-profile additions to the ACC in Notre Dame and Syracuse, it should be interesting to see which players decide to stay north.

Geoff Shannon

Like the ancient Greeks, lacrosse can do naught but watch as the mighty gods of Mount Olympus (football and basketball) scheme, connive and eventually wage open war against each other. What is good for the gods is not often good for man, , and this new ACC as SEC lacrosse conference concentrates a tremendous amount of SOS power into one group. As Zach points out, one of the roads to the NCAAs tightens up a bit (and another reason why I would love to see a minimum 17-game regular season schedule implemented for DI lacrosse). Still, its not all doom. Notre Dame’s SOS improves immediately, allowing them to earn those No. 1/No. 2 spots in the NCAA tournament seedings on a regular basis without raised eyebrow from the bourgeois fanbase. They also add themselves to ESPN’s TV contract with the ACC, which, if the ESPNU continues to showcase lacrosse the way they have, will help raise their recruiting profile.

I’m intrigued to see how a hierarchy works itself out among these teams. Syracuse has hit a plateau following their recent title seasons, North Carolina continues to try to rebuild on the recruiting front, Duke continues to win, Virginia is a perennial title favorite, Maryland was in the last two championships and Notre Dame continues to find itself in the final four. Something’s going to give here among these programs. Who’s the bottom feeder?

Matt Kinnear

Geoff hinted at this, but the thing that intrigues me is that even though for myself and the readers of this site, the lacrosse implications are huge, for the decision-makers and nationwide audience, it’s an afterthought. Although Notre Dame is keeping its football independence, this is a football, basketball and TV decision. How many times in the high-level meetings do you think the word “lacrosse” was uttered? I’m guessing maybe once after the ink was drying. The Big 12 just signed a $20 million per school deal for TV; the ACC revenues are expected to be near that after this deal. I worked at a central Pennsylvania newspaper during the last wave of conference realignment involving the Big Ten, and really it all boils down to that money — which comes from football and basketball. While getting my thoughts together I looked through ESPN’s main story. The word “lacrosse” is written once, at the end of the 22nd paragraph, as an afterthought. Does anyone realize they created the best conference in all of college sports?

Terry Foy

I’m interested to see if ACC Lacrosse will formalize its own TV deal separate from the conference’s regional and national TV deals that yield any type of considerable revenue. As has already been stated, TV revenue is the main driver in these decisions, and other lacrosse conferences have been able to pursue their own TV deals, as has Syracuse locally. But while those deals made sense for each partner, none has had the potential clout of ACC men’s lacrosse with this level of competition and this geographic footprint. And with more national sports sports networks able to bid, could the rights to ACC men’s lacrosse games be headed for a sharp increase?